Staging to Training

As we leave Philadelphia at 2AM, it is 20 degrees F. Everyone is eager to get on the bus and take a 2 hour ride to JFK. We arrived around 5 and waited for two hours before checking bags in and going through security. If you have never been in the international section of JFK at 8AM, it is definitely something to experience. It really surprised me how many people were there that early. As an unexperienced international traveler, I wasn’t sure where to go or how to get through the different check points. Luckily for me, I had 33 other trainees that had some experience and could help me with any questions that I had.

Arriving at the gate, I started to get very anxious. I couldn’t stop thinking about this 14 hour flight (the longest that I’ve ever been on) that we were about to take. I also couldn’t stop thinking about how nervous I was going to be to step off of the plane in SA. It was not only nervousness but curiosity. How were the PC staff waiting on our arrival going to think of us? What types of things were we going to see on the way to the conference sight? Where was the conference sight? As an American traveler, there were so many questions that I had to consider when greeting somebody of another culture. This was something that concerned me. I did not want to get myself in a position where I would be disrespectful or perceived as such.

So here we are 14 hours later landing in SA. This was such a surreal moment because up until the point of landing, the whole process felt surreal. When we started to land, more nervousness flowed through my body and I started to get anxious. I kept reminding myself that I was coming for a purpose and a great purpose at that. I soon centered myself and felt much better. As we stepped off of the plane, it was between the temperatures of 60-70 degrees F with a nice cool breeze. The air was very fresh smelling and it felt much better than the 20 degrees that we just left in America. While waiting for the bus to take us to passport control/baggage claim, the nervousness and anxiousness slowly crept away. I was feeling much better about this leap of faith that I took. After claiming baggage, we were greeted with big arms by some PC staff.

After arriving to the conference center, more PC staff greeted us with South African songs. This specific group of staff are what we call LCF’s (Language & Cross-Cultural Facilitators). They would be in charge of teaching us the language that we will be using throughout our service as well as the cultural aspects in which we will need to be successful in our communities. I am really excited for this part of training because I love learning about other cultures and comparing them to the American culture.

As day one is wrapping up, I started thinking to myself how great of a journey this will be. Although it will not be easy, I can’t reiterate how much I have fully accepted the challenge to transition from a trainee to a volunteer.